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Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Attention Western Sydney and fellow
burger geeks! There's going to be a new kid in town and it looks very
promising! It's been announced that Tim
Rosenstrauss (ex Master), Richard
Borg (ex Momofuku Seibo), Josh DeLuca
(ex Quay Restaurant) will soon unveil their burger haven called Burger Head.

It will be the latest joint to hit the
Western Sydney burger scene. The Burger Head will open at Henry Street in
Penrith in a few weeks time with the usual burger menu suspects that includes
mash, fried chicken, and milkshakes plus items like puffed pork crackling,
craft beers and cocktails. Fortunately, they had a stall at Penrith's first
Aussie Night Markets earlier this evening where they showcased samples of what
to expect from The Burger Head. I was able to try their burgers and it is mind
blowing stuff folks! Expect nothing less of excellent.

You can keep it simple and have fries
with your burger. But I took it to the next level by ordering puffed pork. It
is basically spiced puffed pork($5) crackling that's flavoursome,
crisped and airy.

Cheeseburger

Bacon cheeseburger

Their cheeseburger ($10) is off the chainz!! Smashed beef patty, pickles,
American cheese and a creamy house secret sauce in a lightly toasted milk bun.
Their own juicy patty blend was cooked medium rare and had a perfect
caramelised crust that gave it super extra umami. The meat was slightly coarsely minced which kept pockets of amazing meat juice. Just like shake shack's! It
is simple, perfect and executed freakin' well! You can easily handle it with
one hand and have a drink in the other. You need to get this with extra bacon
($4). It was crispy and smoky!

Fried chicken burger

The fried
chicken burger ($14) had lettuce, sauce and coated chicken patty. The
coating had crispy edges and the tender thigh meat was juicy and flavoursome.
The spices used was the highlight!

Shroom and kale burger

Last but not least was the shroom and kale burger ($14). This is
possibly the best veggie burger I have come across to date. The combination of
the smoked mushrooms and kale with the daikon cabbage slaw was sensational! So packed with umami!

Roasted white chocolate milkshake

Also, I flashed it all down with roasted white chocolate milkshake($15).
Loved the nutty and caramel flavours!

I can't wait to try the rest of their creations
when the shop opens! Follow them on Facebook and Instagram for updates.

Monday, December 5, 2016

First it was the specialty coffee places
that started popping up in Parramatta. Now, the small bar scene has started. It
wasn't long ago when Uncle Kurt's
opened at the ground level of Secure Parking's complex near the Roxy. It's a
bit hipster with a dose of grunge and a hell lot of character.

I'm talking about a hip diver bar with
craft beers, whiskies, spirits and cocktails. Hiphop tracks playing in
the background whilst enjoying New York style deli snacks. It's the first of
its kind in Parramatta and I'm sure it won't be the last. For a second
there I thought I was in cool town Newtown!

The brisket
pastrami po'boy ($14) has pastrami, saurkraut, Russian dressing, American
mustard, pickles and dill in a milk bun. It's a solid po'boy but it needs
to hold back just a tad on the mustard as it can be overpowering at some parts
of the po'boy.

Smoked sausage roll

The smoked
sausage roll ($14) was awesome! A double smoked andouille, saurkraut,
Russian dressing, mustard, pickles and dill in a milk bun. The smoky essence of
the sausage punches through whilst the mustard, saurkraut and pickles
compliments the smokiness well.

Uncle's traditional reuben

Their Uncle's traditional reuben sandwich ($16) is one of the best I've had in Sydney. A
perfectly balanced amount of smoked brisket pastrami, super melted Edam cheese,
Russian dressing and coleslaw in toasted rye bread with a pickle on the side.
The edam cheese was mild and smooth with notes of nutty flavour, which
compliments the pastrami well. The dressing and coleslaw gives acidity and
sweetness to cut through the pastrami and cheese.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Long before we saw the
rise of American-style burgers in Sydney, there were OG joints that already
existed. One of them being Jovan Curic's Pub
Life Kitchen (PLK). Following the success of PLK Ultimo and Rozelle, Curic
(born and raised in Sydney's Southwest) has decided to open a place that
possibly serves the best burgers in Western Sydney.

Enter Superior Burger! An old school milkbar/diner that serves everything from classic burgers, fried chicken, milkshakes etc. So
what sets this place apart from other burger places out West? It's the
beautifully aged whole Watagan naturally raised beef used for their burger
patties. "You know which body you are eating down to the tag number"
says Jovan.

Iced tea and beer battered potato scallops

They do housemade
sweetened lemon iced that's zesty and refreshing. You can also get old
school beer-battered potato scallops ($2
each). These delicious potato scallops had a super tasty crisped batter.
Dayumn!

Fried chicken

Their fried
chicken($6) consists of two
juicy dark chicken meats (drumstick and thigh) with crunchy rippled buttermilk
coating and some pickles.

Then there's the burgs:

The bird

The signature Pub Life Kitchen fried chicken
burger, The Bird ($18): Deep fried
chicken fillet coated in a rippled batter that consists of crushed Doritos with
slaw, cheese and mayo in a soft milk bun. You need to get this!

Superior burger

The superior
burger ($16) is a diner-style burger: beef patty, tomato, onions, lettuce,
cheese and superior special sauce in a milk bun. Classic, no-nonsense and
superior burger indeed from structure to flavours.

Cheeseburger

Jovan gets what a classic cheeseburger ($15) is supposed to be: no salad in sight. Just aged
beef patty, American cheese, onions, Mclure pickles, mustard and ketchup in a
slightly toasted milk bun. I added extra doubled
smoked streaky bacon ($4) for that smoky touch. The patty was perfectly
seasoned and had more depth in flavour due to the aging process of the beef.
The pickles offset the bite from the raw onion. The tang, acidity and sweetness
from the ketchup and mustard sealed the deal. The whole burger handles well and
not messy to eat at all. Still my favourite classic cheeseburger in Sydney to
date.

Now you know where to find the some of the best burgers in
Western Sydney. Come get it!

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Parramatta is transforming and growing
as a thriving metropolis. So is the third wave coffee scene in this city! Take
Circa Espresso, The Elevation, Darcy Street Project and Paper Planes for
instance. Speaking about Circa, a former Circa barista and a good friend of
mine Toufick Chami (also ex - The
Cupping Room and Tap) has recently opened Meraki
Merchants.

At the corner of George Street and Angus
Lane is where you'll find Meraki Merchants. The space has a mixture of Scandinavian
and homey interior. I like that the menu is minimal but it works well. The food
ranges from delicious classic jaffle specials, to toasties, sandwiches and
pastries. The coffee beans is sourced from Stitch
Coffee Roasters by Nawar Adra (another Circa alumnus).

Piccolo latte

Toufick was mentored by world champion
Sasa Sestic. So you can expect excellent cups of coffee from him. I've tried
their Ethiopian and Colombian blend on a piccolo latte ($3.50) and a flat
white ($4). The coffee had medium body with sweet and nutty notes. It was
strong enough to pierce through milk. One of Toufick's strong points as a
barista is that he consistently textures milk to a perfect temperature.

The sultan's jaffle ($10) is something I would
have for breakfast everyday. A jaffle of pure comfort that has Danish feta,
sujuk, cheddar, kalamata olives & homemade relish. It tastes like
breakfast pizza.

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